Writing about singles has been an enormously meaningful experience, but it has not been a lucrative one. I’ve had fantasies about making a mint on Singled Out or Singlism or from blogging. Not gonna happen.
What I fantasized about is not stuff like buying a yacht or traveling around the world. What I really wish I could do is support single people and singles activism and advocacy. So here I’d like to share some of my starry-eyed ideas that will never come to fruition from my meager royalties or paychecks. I hope you will add some of your own.
- My undergraduate institution, Vassar College, each year makes a one-year sabbatical available to an alum. I think the sabbatical is specifically for people trying to embark on new projects with little financial support. All too often, I hear from single people who, for various reasons, are in precarious economic positions. How I would love to have paid sabbaticals to offer them!
- I wonder what an organization such as the Alternatives to Marriage Project could do with a great endowment. (I don’t think they’ve hired a new director yet, by the way – so if you are interested or know someone else who is, there may still be time.)
- There is a whole cottage industry of groups and organizations that support the pro-marriage movement, marriage scholars and pundits, marriage research, continuing education, and conferences. Wouldn’t it be great to build up something like that for singles? And since I’m in fantasy land, I’d love to locate one of the Centers for Singles Studies in a magnificent structure that can also house single people who would like to take a year or so to work and trade ideas with other scholars and activists, rent free.
I have other wild ideas, too, but that’s enough to get us started. What would you do if you had a zillion dollars to make life better for single people?
